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Nov. 23, 1954 GARVER 2,694,975

TICKET IMPRINTING DEVICE Filed Nov. 21, 1949.

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TICKET IMPRINTING DEVICE Filed Nov. 21, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 54 FigJO.15 26 Fig.4.. I

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United States Patent TICKET HVIPRINTIN G DEVICE Curtis A. Garver,Lexington, Ky., assignor of fifty per cent to Morrison V. Swift,Lexington, Ky.

Application November 21, 1949, Serial No. 128,540

4 Claims. (Cl. 101-374) This invention relates generally to printingmachines and more particularly to a device for imprinting the routing,fare, tax, and interline value of coupons, together with the dating orvalidating of tickets such as used by transportation companies. Aprimary object of this invention is to facilitate the inserting ofroutings, fares, tax, dates or validations, and any other informationdesired, in transportation company tickets, or the like, especiallythose tickets in which the same matter is repeated upon successivetickets and/ or upon different portions of the same ticket.

An underlying object of this invention is the simplification andfacilitation of inserting routings, fares, tax, dates or validations andother information upon transportation tickets and the like, withresultant acceleration of the work and greater convenience to thetravelling public, inasmuch as complete, accurate and easily legibletickets can be furnished customers very quickly upon applicationtherefor at a ticket oflice.

A specific object of this invention is to provide a prepared plate to beon file in ticket agency, containing embossed slugs carrying the desiredinformation for imprinting tickets of transportation companies.

Another specific object of this invention is the arranging of therouting on separate slugs from the fare, tax and interline rate and theaifixing of these slugs to the plate with an adhesive to provide a meansof easily changing portions of the imprinting without the necessity ofpreparing complete new plates.

Another specific object of this invention is to provide a ticketimprinting device in which a platen carries type plates having suchrelatively non-varying matter such as the routing and fares, while anunder plate is provided carrying type relating to such matter as thedate, which will, of course, change relatively frequently.

Another specific object of this invention is to provide b simple meansfor guiding a carriage carrying printing type means along with a ticketand reproducing media, into contact with a pressure roller, and to makethe actual manipulation of the carriage easily accomplished withoutsmudging of the imprinted characters on the ticket, all as will be morefully explained in the following specification.

And a last object to be mentioned specifically is to provide a ticketimprinting device which is relatively inexpensive and practicable tomanufacture, which is convenient, simple and safe to use, and which willgive generally efficient and durable service.

With these objects definitely in view, this invention resides in certainnovel features of construction, combination and arrangement of elementsand portions as will be hereinafter described in detail in thespecification, particularly pointed out in the appended claims, andillustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a material part ofthis application, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the assembled machine;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the machine;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the section line 33 inFigure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical longitudinal sectional view;

Figure 5 is an exploded view, in perspective, of the carriage with itsunder plate, platen, and a ticket with a sheet of carbon paper arrangedin a manner suggestive of the arrangement of these elements in thecarriage during operation of the device;

2,694,975 Patented Nov. 23, 1954 Figures 6 and 7 are vertical transversesectional views taken on the corresponding section lines in Figure 5;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary plan view of a section of What IS hereinafterreferred to as the under plate with type and a spring keeper used toretain the type in position in the under plate.

Figure is a vertical sectional view, taken substantially upon the line9-9 in Figure 8; and

Figure 10 is a fragmentary plan view of a ticket such as w ll beimprinted by the device which is the subject matter of this invention.

Sunilar characters of reference designate similar or identical elementsor portions throughout the specification and throughout the diiferentviews in the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, this device includes a base 16which is elongated and generally U- shaped and which has upstandinglateral walls 12 in opposed relation above the level of the main portionof the base. A flat plate or cross-bar 14 is rigidly secured terminallyto the said upstanding walls 12, by means of screws 16, this plate orcross-bar 14 extending transversely of the base.

The lateral walls 12 are provided with vertical slots 18 and slidebearings 20, of cross-head character, are vertically slidably mounted inthe slots 18. The slide bearings 20 are opposed to each other and carryan imprinting roller 22 which has journals freely rotatably mountedtherein. Adjusting screws 24 are threaded into the crossbar 14 anddepend into bores provided in the slide bearings 20, helical springs 26being provided between the lower ends of the screws 24 and the innerends of the bores in the bearings so that the roller 20 is resilientlymounted to allow limited vertical movement relative to the base 10.

In the embodiment of this invention illustrated in the drawings, asecond or lower roller 28 is somewhat similarly mounted for freerotation within somewhat similar bearings 30, although it will beobvious that equivalent structure may be substituted for this roller andbearings 30. Adjusting screws 32 may be inserted between the bearings 26and 30, so that the spacing of the roller 22, above the roller 28, canbe varied by the operator.

A carriage 34 is provided with laterally disposed rails 40 to engagecollars 42 on the roller 22 for a purpose which will be made clearhereinafter. The carriage 34 is preferably centrally and longitudinallyrecessed on its upper surface as best indicated at 44 in Figures 3 and 7and the carriage has a semi-circular handle 46 at one end. An underplate comprised of two layers 48 and 50 is removably mounted within therecess 44, these layers having registering longitudinally disposedslots, the slots in the upper layer 50 being narrower than the slots inthe lower layer 48, so that type 52 can be removably mounted in theunder plate by means of channeled mounting members 54, best illustratedin Figures 7 and 9. The slot in the upper layer 50 is indicated at 56,in Figure 8, and it will be noted that this slot is enlarged at 58 toallow insertion of the lower portion of the attaching block 54. It willbe understood that the type 52 is mounted by first inserting theattaching blocks 54 in the enlarged portion 58 of the slot 56 and thensliding the type with its attachment block longitudinally of the slot.When the type is in position, a spring keeper 60, best illustrated inFigures 8 and 9, is forced into the slot 56 to hold the type againstlongitudinal movement. It is noteworthy that the type referred to abovewill be relating to matter which is changed relatively often, such asthe date as illustrated in the figures.

A platen 62, ordinarily rectangular, as bCStdlllJStlfltCd in Figure 5,is mounted in superimposed relation on the under plate 48 and betweenthe rails 40. The platen has a plurality of recesses in its uppersurface, these recesses having enlargements 64 functioning as fingerholds 64, and type plates 66, ordinarily metal plates with raised typeon the upper surface, are removably received in these recesses andretained therein by an adhesive member 68, ordinarily comprising sheetsof adhesive tape 1n the bottoms of the recesses in the platen. Aplurality of apertures 79 in the platen 62 accommodate the type 52, andwhen the platen is placed on the carriage, in superimposedrelation-.withthe under plate 48, the impression faces of the typeplates 66 will be coplanar with the impression faces of the type 52.

Figure 5 also illustrates the relative dimension of the carbon paper 72,or other reproducing media, and the ticket 74. Atleast oneguide post 76will be provided on the upper surface of the carriage 34, to extendthrough the under plate 43'and throughapertures 78 in the platen 62,carbon paper 72, and ticket 74, in order that these elements may be inproper registration with each other and with the carriage 34 during theactual imprinting operation. The roller 22 will be provided with aresilient covering 80, and this resilient covering will be at least aswide as the transverse spacing of the type plates 66 and type 52requires. When the carriage 34 is being pulled through the device, theroller 28 will function'as the chief support for the carriage, andauxiliary supports for the carriage, both during the actual pullingoperation as well as before the pulling operation is commenced, areprovided in the longitudinally disposed rails 82, which may be integralwith the base 10, as best illustrated in Figures 1 and 4.

The operation of this invention will be clearly understood frcm aconsideration of the foregoing description of the mechanical detailsthereof, taken in connection with the drawings and with the aboverecited objects of the invention. In recapitulation, the carriage willbe pulled manually through the device, as from the left to right inFigures 1, 2, and 4-. The carriage 34 will .carry the under plate 48with its type 52, the platen 62 with its type plates 66, the carbonpaper '72 with the carbon disposed upwardly, andthe ticket 74, arrangedin that order. The actual imprinting will be clearly understood. Thetype plates 66 can be removed andreplaced when fares or routingischanged, although the adhesive material 68 will ordinarily retain thesetype plates in the platen 62. It will be understood that both thisplaten 62 and the under plate 43 are provided in sets according to thenumber of commonly used tickets sold in the particular ofiice whereinthis invention is usedand wherein the routing and fare do'not changefrequently. It will be clear that the different parts of the ticket, asillustrated in Figure 10, can be filled out with expedition when theproper platen and under plate are chosen, inserted in the carriage alongwith the carbon paper and ticket and the carriage pulled through thedevice. The type plates 66 can be mounted transversely of the platen 62when commutation tickets are being used. It will also be clear howall'of the objects mentioned in the early part of this specification areamply accomplished by this invention, as well as possibly many otherobjects and advantages which will be evident to those skilled in the artto which this invention appertains. Having described the invention, whatis claimed as new 1. In a ticket printing device, a printing membercomprising a substantially rectangular and flat carriage having anelongated recess in its upper face and a hand hold at one end, a pair ofparallel roller engaging rails rising from the upper faceof saidcarriage inwardly from the side edges of the carriage and including flatinner surfaces, said recess including side walls flush. with theinnersurfaces of said rails, an under plate positioned in the recess andcontacting the bottom' wall of the recess and having side edgescontacting the side walls of the recess, type carried by the under plateand rising therefrom, and a type carrying platen overlying and restingfiat against the under plate and having slots therein receiving the typecarried by the under plate, said platen including longitudinal sideedges contacting the inner surfaces of said rails.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said platen includes an upper facehaving recesses therein, type plates positioned in the recesses in saidplaten, and adhesive means retaining the type plates in the recesses insaid platen.

3. In a ticket printing device, a printing member comprising a fiatcarriage having an upper face provided with a recess therein, anunderplate disposed within the recess and resting flatagainst the bottomwall of the recess, said underplate comprising upper and lowerjuxtapositioned layers each having a slot therein, the slot in the lowerlayer being wider than the slot in the upper layer and being in registrywith the slot in the upper layer, a type retaining block slidablycarried by the underplate, said block being substantially H-shaped incross-section to include spaced flanges and grooves between saidflanges, said grooves receiving the side edges of the slot in the upperlayer, one of said flanges being received in the slot in the lower layerand resting against the bottom wall of the recess and the other-of saidflanges resting upon the upper face of said upper layer, and a springclip engaged in. said slots to hold the block against sliding, saidslots each having an enlarged. end portion through which the block maybe moved for removal from the underplate.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said spring clip comprises asubstantially C-shaped head resting against the upper face of said upperlayer and extending across the slots, said clip also having a pair ofundulated leg portions formed with, the ends of said head and yieldinglyengaging theside edges of the slot in said upper ayer.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED-STATES PATENTS

